UNT System
The University of North Texas System’s Board of Regents has approved unanimously an extension of the opening date for the University of North Texas at Dallas to the Fall 2010 semester.
The previously scheduled opening date for the first four-year public university in Dallas was Fall 2009, but UNT Dallas Campus Vice Provost John Ellis Price, who oversees operations at the UNT Dallas Campus, the future UNT Dallas, said more time is needed to make arrangements for opening the university. Among those arrangements is obtaining state funds to hire an additional 43 faculty members and 62 staff members. Additionally, Price emphasized that more space is needed to accommodate current and future enrollment growth at the campus.
“We are asking for additional time to do it right and with high quality,” Price told the board. “In order for us to provide a broad and secure foundation for the growth and development of UNT Dallas, additional time is needed to develop academic programs for UNT Dallas, develop policies and procedures for appointments and leadership and governance, and secure transitional funding to open UNT Dallas.”
The UNT Dallas Campus has grown since its founding in 2000 by an average of 16 percent annually. The largest jump in enrollment occurred between the Fall 2006 and Fall 2007 semesters. Then, enrollment climbed 22 percent in headcount to 1,874 students. Full-time equivalent student (FTEs) enrollment jumped from 644 to 814, a 32 percent increase.
Under current legislation, the UNT Dallas Campus will be eligible for freestanding status when it reaches an enrollment of 1,000 FTEs. Campus administrators are confident that the campus will meet that goal in the Fall 2008 semester, based on a seven year record of cumulative growth at the campus in Southern Dallas County.
UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson said no other campus in Texas has started from the ground up in Texas in recent memory. He also said no other campus has shown such consistent growth.
One “critical success factor” facing the campus, according to Price, is space. The campus is already at a space deficit, but at the beginning of the Fall 2008 semester will had eight new faculty members and four new staff members to student services. In a best case scenario, the opening of UNT Dallas will coincide with the completion of a new and larger building with additional classrooms and space for faculty and staff.
“One building does not a university make,” Price said, adding that delays on the construction of the second building would be “disastrous.” The State of Texas has already approved a tuition revenue bond of $25 million for the second building. Release of that bond is contingent upon the campus reaching an enrollment of 1,500 FTEs.
Price also said UNT Dallas needs time to develop its academic programs. Currently, all of the programs offered at the UNT Dallas Campus are programs based in Denton. The future UNT Dallas, however, will create its own programs with unique niches, Price said. For example, Price said the campus will consider launching an interdisciplinary program in forensic accounting, which combines accounting, the sciences and criminal justice for students who want to pursue careers in investigating fraud and corruption.
Price’s recommendation to move the opening of UNT Dallas to 2010 was supported by the findings of a report from an independent transition consultant. David Schwalm, dean of the School of Applied Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic Campus, analyzed UNT Dallas Campus planning and timeline documents, made multiple visits to the UNT Dallas Campus and UNT in Denton, and visited the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).
“It would be best to ‘do it right’ – that is, continue to operate a bit longer as a branch campus while pursuing the resources, staff, faculty, and curriculum necessary to open as a full-service, accredited, independent, degree-granting 4 year campus,” Schwalm wrote in his report. “This will heighten the impact of the opening of the campus, maximize the benefit to students, and provide a broad and secure foundation for future growth and development.”
In an article related to the opening of UNT Dallas in the Dallas Morning News May 5, David Gardner, a deputy commissioner with the THECB, said there was wisdom in proceeding slowly toward the opening of the university.
“I think they’re showing great wisdom in realizing you can’t just open a campus overnight,” Gardner told the paper. “They want to do it the right way, obviously.”